Norway extends border controls through May

The widely-expected move came after the EU earlier this week gave Norway permission to put another extension in place. 

 

Justice Minister Per-Willy Amundsen, who replaced fellow Progress Party member Anders Anundsen in December, said that the controls have been extended through May 11th. 

 

“The security situation and migration situation suggests that it is not natural to remove the border controls now, and that we should continue them for three more months. We will then consider at that time whether a further extension is necessary,” Amundsen said.

 

Amundsen says that that Norway is closely monitoring the situation and that although its asylum numbers have plummeted since the controls were put in place, the government believes “it is natural to continue” the measures. 

 

Norway’s border control measures entail checking all arriving ferry passengers arriving from Denmark, Sweden and Germany. Those three countries all currently have their own border checks in place, as does Austria. 

 

While the EU has granted the five countries the right to extend the measures again, it said that border controls within the Schengen zone should only be used as “a last resort” and that the measures should be as targeted and limited as possible.